Written by

Phyl Newbeck

Free Press Correspondent

How to donate a turkey

Donors can drop off turkeys at 228 N. Winooski Ave. in Burlington. Information on how to make cash donations towards the purchase of turkeys can be found at www.feedingchittenden.org.

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Last year, more than 3,000 turkeys were donated to the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf at Thanksgiving time.

This year, according to Executive Director Rob Meehan, the cupboard is bare. “We got a little bit bumped by the election and the storm this year,” he said. “We couldn’t compete with that kind of media frenzy, so now we’re trying to play catch up.”

The Food Shelf’s 2012 turkey drive goal is to collect 2,700 turkeys for families in need. This year, the campaign is starting a little bit later than usual, but Meehan is hopeful donations will come in. Cuts in the federal Emergency Food Assistance Program meant that last year the Food Shelf moved half a million pounds of food less than the previous year.

The sluggish economy and competing demands for donations — Tropical Storm Irene last year and Hurricane Sandy this year — have also reduced the amount of food available at the Food Shelf for hungry Vermonters.

Although the Food Shelf collects money and food year round, Meehan believes the focus on gathering turkeys for Thanksgiving is important.

“This is a traditional time in our country when families get together with a focus on food and sharing with each other,” he said. “Poverty affects people in so many ways such as preventing kids from taking part in after school programs or buying new clothes. For that kid not to have a Thanksgiving meal with their family would be really tough.”

Meehan is pleased that in each of his five years with the Food Shelf, the agency has surpassed its Thanksgiving turkey goal. The remaining turkeys become part of the organization’s regular grocery distribution.

“It’s hard to ask people to continually give when we know people who have lost their homes to natural disasters,” he said. “There is so much taking place on the East Coast that demands our attention. Hunger is all year round but this is an opportunity for us to raise awareness of that problem.”